Episode 525. The Ancient Empire was full of romance. (3)
Of course, as soon as it was revealed through that wiki tab that the Grand Cross was a massive, awe-inspiring, and genuinely impressive mobile fortress, all sorts of users, including our battleship and artillery enthusiasts, couldn’t help but go into a frenzy in the galleries and chat rooms.
And of course, such a frenzy was justified, as even the ancient texts and historical records would attest.
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Title: It’s a freaking massive mobile fortress with a freaking massive cannon!!!!
Author: ㅇㅇ
Content: [Image of a raging toad]
A supermassive fortress that utilizes an entire star system!
And a cannon powered by a black hole!
Holy crap!
Sexy!
Xxxxxx!!!!!
Comments:
-[Has he gone mad?]
-[Can’t resist big guns and ships lol]
-[Kuuuuuuu]
-[Grrr, can’t hold back, fortress!]
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Title: No, seriously, it’s insane, it has three stars!
Author: ㅇㅇ
Content: [Concept art of the Grand Cross & close-up of the propulsion section.jpg]
The star system is so massive that it has three stellar engines, which is just mind-blowing.
It’s just awesome, seriously, how amazing would it be to see something like that in real life?
Comments:
-[The three stars are orbiting around the black hole, but it’s not a triple star system; it’s designed like a single star system, which is cool.]
-[But why aren’t the stars getting sucked into the black hole?]
-˪[Maybe it’s because of the event horizon?]
-˪[If the black hole’s mass center is stable, then it’s fine.]
-˪[But if they were that close, they should be getting pulled in, right?]
-˪[As long as it looks cool, that’s all that matters lol]
-[That’s some scary stuff, man.]
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Title: So, how do we attack the fortress during the event?
Author: Lemonade
Content: [Image of the Grand Cross’s defense fleet.jpg]
The first and second stages are manageable, but the third stage is just a full-on siege, right?
And even before infiltrating the interior, you have to endure those insane gamma-ray bursts, which are said to be stronger than solar flares.
You have to destroy those cannons and the defense facilities in the asteroid belt outside the star system, then fight your way through the unmanned fleet inside?
This doesn’t seem easy.
Comments:
-[That’s why they’re probably encouraging more users to participate in the second stage.]
-[Also, if this is something that’s actually moving around in real space, wouldn’t the factions get involved and provide support?]
-˪[Oh, that makes sense.]
-[If it’s moving around in real space, then the big clans in each zone will probably hire defense fleets and mercenaries to fight, so it shouldn’t be a huge problem.]
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It seems like the long-awaited combat event has brought out battleship and artillery enthusiasts, as well as war maniacs who’ve been itching for a fight, popping up everywhere like mushrooms after the rain.
And such reactions were no different in our Central Zone neutral territory… aka the “Icarus Republic.”
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[Icarus Republic Official Chat Room]
[Announcement: Celebrate the birth of the greatest republic!]
-[Did we change our name again?]
-[The King said he didn’t like the monarchy, so we switched to a republic.]
-[Lolololol]
-[So, what about the event?]
-[What about it?]
-[They said they’ll come if we dock at the base.]
-[We can just hold out with the base defense fleet, facilities, and our own base defense systems, right?]
-[We don’t have a fleet, but we have superhumans!]
-[Why don’t we gather a bunch of superhumans and capture a bunch of Ancient Empire ships this time?]
-[But isn’t it impossible to capture Ancient Empire ships?]
-[That’s only for the flagship that appears during the event; here we’re talking about regular ships, so it should be possible.]
-[The unmanned fleet is a bit suspicious, though.]
-[Lololol, just remove the CPU and stick a person in there, problem solved.]
-[What color is your blood, you bastard!]
—————————————–
“Everyone seems quite lively.”
“Well, there haven’t been many direct conflicts recently.”
“…Is that so?”
“Only a few have been directly beaten by the Commander, right? The rest…”
The fleet mobilized by the Commander scared me, so I bowed down on my own.”
“Listening to it, it makes sense.”
Jessica’s words really had a point, so I nodded my head in agreement.
And with that, a truly large-scale war event was about to come crashing down.
“Hmm, so right now, Kraken No. 3 and two SS-class Dreadnoughts, and Dornia’s leveling isn’t complete yet, right?”
“Yes, well, Dornia’s friendliness is rising quite quickly, but still.”
“Even so, it wouldn’t hurt to do more. Make sure the rest of the superhumans are all thoroughly prepared.”
“Yes, Commander.”
I decided to focus on leveling up and tinkering with various equipment settings to prepare for the event coming in a week… no, six days.
But around this time, I heard some very disappointing news.
“Oppa, I’m sorry, but I think it’s time for me to head back to the main base.”
“Ugh.”
The Marian and her gang, who had come to help me after the Leviathan Fleet when the Xenobia Empire’s Punishment Fleet invaded.
Well… no, the elite fleet of the Pirate Alliance, due to the event causing chaos within the alliance.
I heard they had to return to their original positions.
Because of this, I felt a lot of regret, but there was nothing I could do.
“Bring me a Melona when you come.”
“Huh?”
“No, it’s nothing. Take care of yourself.”
“Of course!”
I had no choice but to wave a handkerchief as I bid farewell to Marian and the Pirate Alliance’s fleet, who were leaving just before the event.
==========
And as six days passed, users were seen trying to figure out what kind of ‘enemy’ would appear in this event.
The problem was, even if they tried to find out, the only ‘credible’ information on the wiki tab was about the Grand Cross fortress.
Since the only thing that had appeared in a previous event was the ‘Capital Ship of the Ancient Empire,’ the way users gathered information was literally by using ‘collective intelligence’…
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Title: Bring out your ‘knowledge.’
Author: ㅇㅇ
Content: [A mysterious something created by compiling users’ brain farts.jpg]
Write down everything you know ㅇㅇ
If we harness the collective intelligence of hundreds of thousands, we can achieve anything.
Comments:
– [It’s been over 4 years since I got possessed, what brain farts are you talking about?]
– [Kid… damn!] (Author)
– [Try squeezing out more of your underdeveloped cerebral cortex]
– [But there’s too much brain farting going on, it’s hard to trust]
– [Who wrote about some multi-dimensional thing that never existed?]
– [Doesn’t it exist?]
– [That’s nonsense, how would you even implement that?]
– [Catch those liars and cut them off]
– [Who said every ship has stealth beyond subspace diving capabilities? Like that’s possible]
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Title: Real-time collective intelligence status.txt
Author: ㅇㅇ
Content: [The increasingly deranged speculation about the Grand Cross enemy fleet.jpg]
Last time, we got flak for derailing at stages 5-10 and only landing effective hits on ships one stage higher, calling it deranged.
But if what’s written here is true, now a Patrol Ship can one-shot a Dreadnought.
Comments:
– [Damn, this is the king of derangement]
– [Why is such insane performance coming out all of a sudden?]
– [Some kids keep adding their own brain farts to the performance]
– [This is really not easy]
– [Who said a regular Battleship would have hundreds of Strategic Missile launchers?]
– [Isn’t it possible?]
– [Hreðsvelgr, with its extended hull structure compared to Battleships, only has 12 Strategic Missile launchers, taking up most of the ship’s side]
– [Ah, I see]
—————————————–
The problem is, due to the nature of collective intelligence.
All sorts of trolls got involved, and the predictions became increasingly messy.
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